The overall objective of the Centric Reciprocating Compressor (CRC) project is to upscale, pilot and commercialise our highly energy efficient, cost-effective and lightweight air compressor targeting the nitrogen generator manufacturers in the maritime shipping sector. CRC has the potential to generate annual energy savings of at least 30% and to reduce operating costs in 35%.
EU INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIETAL PROBLEMS:
Although air compression technology is long established and very widely used in many industrial sectors, compression equipment almost never operates at anything close to efficiency. As much as 90% of all energy fed into air compression systems is lost through waste heat in the compression chamber, friction between moving parts, pressure disequilibria in piping systems, poor control of supply and demand peaks, or production overruns. In addition, generating compressed air is an energy-intensive process accounting for 70-80% of the compressor costs throughout its entire lifetime, regardless of size or intensity of use. About 10% of all the electricity consumed by the EU industry is used to drive compressed air systems (i.e. 80TWh per year) or the equivalent of the entire annual electricity production of Belgium or the Czech Republic. Furthermore, an inescapable consequence of heavy energy consumption is the production of greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions: the generation of the 80TWh of electricity used by air compressors in EU releases 56MT of CO2 annually, if the primary energy source is fossil fuel. Finally, compressor systems need lubricating oil which must be filtered out of the compressed airstream prior to its use, and this too supposes another financial cost and waste disposal challenge that compressor manufacturers are yet to solve. CRC will help solve the industrial and societal problem of a more energy efficient compressed air industry, and provide a significant contribution to reach the climate change and energy sustainability measures set-out in the Europe 2020 strategy.
OUR SOLUTION:
The patented CRC solution minimises both the number of subcomponents in the compressor and their movement against each other, and thus has the lowest heat waste in the market. By keeping extremely low physical wear on moving parts, CRC reduces maintenance costs from current 15% to max. 10% allowing us to offer a disruptive and virtually maintenance-free compressor. CRC’s internal configuration enables the replacement of standard lubricating oil with water which we also use for sealing, cooling and cleaning the compressor, so running temperatures are much lower (approx. 18%), the airstream leaves the compressor 100% pure and free of particles, and there is no need for an oil filtration step. CRC has no valves -something that is further simplifying the design, cuts our production costs by 40%, and allows us to offer our product at a highly competitive price (€12,000/unit). The above disruptive features allow CRC to annually reduce energy consumption by at least 30% (mainly in operating and maintenance costs) compared to current available solutions - allowing our customers to reach return on investment (RoI) within 4-years and aiding the industry and the EU to cut GHG emissions in the 17MT of CO2. CRC is the lightest compressor in the market (50kg weight) and has a very small physical footprint (LWH dimensions of 1.5m by 0.8m by 2.2m) which makes it easy to transport and very suitable for space restricted locations on seagoing vessels.
